Chaos
by KleptomaniacStoat
Summary: Okay, people, this is my first fic. Crane and Rosethorn clash, Briar is caught in the middle, and random people appear. Enjoy! -Chapter 2 is up-
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fic, so don't kill me please. I'm not so sure of what I'm doing, but that's OK. I'll figure it out someday.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this fic. I am not Tamora Pierce, nor will I ever be.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Briar Moss stepped out of Discipline Cottage. He breathed the fresh spring air, flapping his arms in joy. Spring, he thought joyfully. Spring is here! About time. He reflected on the past winter.  
It had been a long one, with the snow piled three feet high. Then rain had come, and all the snow had disappeared. There was flooding in the cellars of some buildings, including the Hub, but Discipline had been untouched. Then Summersea had received a freak blizzard.  
The snow was again high-but this time it was five and a half feet instead of three. The residents of Discipline had been snowed in, with a couple of other visitors-Dedicate Frostpine, Niklaren Goldeye, and, unfortunately for Rosethorn, Dedicate Crane. Crane had not been pleased, either, but nothing could be done.  
Needless to say, there had been many fights during the three days they were together. Rosethorn and Crane bickered every day, but there were others, too. Tris and Niko weren't speaking-that wasn't good, seeing as Tris was Niko's student. Evvy and Daja were at odds, and Sandry was mad at Briar, who was furious at Lark.  
The causes of the arguments were small-so small that they didn't seem like anything now. Lark hadn't let Briar had an extra muffin-they didn't know how many days they had before them-and had soaked him with water. Briar had hidden Sandry's sewing bag, so she had had nothing to do. Evvy had touched one of Daja's half-completed metal-magic boxes, and the normally easy-going Trader had been furious. Tris had wanted to go outside, and when Niko had calmly pointed out that there wasn't any way to exit the cottage, Tris had stormed up to her room and snapped at anyone who had knocked on her door.  
They were petty offences, but the tension had been tight. They couldn't go anywhere-they were stuck in Discipline. There had even been injuries- Rosethorn, after a particularly heated argument with her nemesis over what a certain type of perfume was made up of, had cracked a clay jar over his head. Crane ran out of her workshop cursing, grabbed a spoon, and hurled it at Rosethorn, who ducked it, missing that but unfortunately receiving Crane's next missile (Lark's teacup) in the stomach.  
The cup hadn't broken, but for the next 15 minutes, the trapped inhabitants of Discipline Cottage had had a hilarious show of Rosethorn chasing a cursing Crane around the whole house. It had ended when Lark had tried to dump a bucket of water on them both, catching Briar instead, which instantly turned his tears of laughter into angry accusations. The fun had ended.  
Briar snapped out of his reverie, cursing silently and hoping no one had seen him walk into the fence. Unfortunately, someone had. A boy, sitting on a bench outside the cottage, giggled into his hand.  
"What are you laughing at, huh?" snapped Briar. His face red, he turned to go, but something held him back. "Why are you sitting outside of Discipline Cottage," he inquired. The boy stopped laughing and looked around.  
"I was told to come here," he replied. "But I don't know my way around here, so I didn't know where to go. But," he added cheerfully, "I guess I found it!"  
"Who sent you?"  
"Dedicate Crane. He told me to give this to Dedicate Rosethorn." He held out a small vial, wit a note attached.  
"Rosethorn's inside," Briar informed him. "But I don't think she'll be pleased to see any messenger from Crane. I'd better go with you."  
Briar led the boy in, pausing to snatch a cookie from the cooling batch on the window. He popped it into his mouth, savoring the sweetness of it.  
Strolling through the door, he stopped, letting out a bellow of rage. He dived forward and tackled the strange girl who was about to touch his precious shakkan. "What do you think you're doing?" he yelled into her ear. Suddenly he saw stars as a fist rammed into his face.  
Vision clearing, he saw a boy his age, one hand curled in a fist, the other holding a triumphantly grinning girl. "Don't you tackle my little sister, you hear?" he growled. The next moment he was yelping in pain as Briar brought his heel down on his foot.  
"Briar!"  
Lark stamped in, giving him a small slap on the hand. "Don't beat everyone up! Especially newcomers!"  
"But she touched my shakkan!" complained Briar. "She could have died of the energy rush!"  
"Well, you could have told her!" snapped back Lark. Her temper was short these days, as she had to work long hours to catch up on time lost because of the blizzard.  
Briar glared at her, then at the still-wincing boy and the annoying girl. Grabbing his shakkan, he stomped into Rosethorn's workshop, glancing back to see that the boy was still following him. He was, though not looking completely comfortable with what he had just witnessed. Great, thought Briar, some new snobby kids coming to stay. Hope it's not for long.  
Rosethorn was in the shop, cleaning and dusting. She looked up, scowling when she saw Briar's bloody nose. "What-" she began, but Briar stopped her by shoving the boy forward. He shyly handed her the note, and scampered out the door. Briar watched him go, and then looked back to Rosethorn, who was growling at the letter.  
"Crane," she muttered darkly. "Always had to be better that I do. Smell the vial? Fine! I will." She brought up the vial, took one whiff, and collapsed, unconscious.  
"Rosethorn!" cried Briar. He knelt next to her, trying to wake her up. His yell had summoned Tris and Lark, who took one look and, with the help of Daja, carried her into her room. Briar stood helplessly on the side while Lark did everything to wake her up.  
Suddenly he got an idea. He grabbed a pail of water, and dumped it on his teacher. She sat up, looked around, saw the vial, and grabbed a piece of paper. She quickly scribbled something on it (it looked like a list), and gave it to Briar. "Give this to Crane-along with a nice whack, will you?" she murmured in his ear. He nodded, grinning back at her. She ruffled his hair and got up. He ran out the door as fast as he could.  
  
Five minutes later, an out of breath Briar burst through the door of Crane's workshop, and ran up to him. He handed the dedicate a small scroll. "Here's Rosethorn's answer," he informed him. "As well as this," and with that, he rammed Crane in the stomach. The dedicate, winded, fell backwards, knocking down a shelf, which dumped its contents on to his head. Briar dodged the dedicates running to help him, and dashed out the door, back to Discipline, laughing all the way.  
  
A/N No, I haven't thought of a plot yet, this was just something I started when I was supposed to be writing an essay on Lord of the Flies. Tell me if you want more, 'cause I'll write more! 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone in this fanfiction.  
  
A/N—Okay, Tris the weatherwitch, you don't have to burn me up with your braids. This was sort of random (yup, more random than Chapter 1!), so forgive me. Enjoy!  
  
Chapter 2  
  
When Briar arrived back at Discipline, the rest of Discipline's inhabitants were sitting down to lunch. The snobby boy and his annoying sister were there too, and the boy who had come from Crane. The latter surprised Briar, for whenever any messenger had come from Crane, they were literally chased out of the cottage—never once had one been invited to dine with them.  
He slid into the remaining seat, in between Sandry and the messenger boy. Grabbing a muffin, he reached for the jam, while trying to juggle the fruit juice and the oatmeal at the same time. Lark laughed, and took them from him.  
When he had finally gotten everything he wanted, Sandry asked him where he had gone. He shrugged, glancing at Rosethorn. She gave him a questioning look, and he nodded ever so slightly, a small smile creeping up his face. Rosethorn gave a nod of satisfaction, and got up, heading towards her workshop.  
But the little girl had noticed the silent interchange. "What happened?" she demanded. Briar glanced at her, and returned his attention to his oatmeal. "What was that?" she asked again. Briar ignored her.  
"Briar, answer the question," sighed Lark. "Be polite." He scowled, looking towards Rosethorn's workshop. She was standing in the doorway, a smile playing at her lips.  
"I'd prefer if he didn't answer the question," she said, "but if it's any help to you, he did it on my orders."  
Briar, his mouth full of muffin, nodded.  
"So, will you answer now?" inquires Niko.  
"Sukth thane," replied Briar, his mouth still full of muffin.  
"What's that?" chorused Tris and Daja.  
Briar swallowed. "Gave Crane Rosethorn's answer."  
"Which was?" pushed Frostpine.  
"A scroll." Briar grinned into his oatmeal, purposely shoving too much into his mouth.  
"What's so funny about that, Briar?" growled Niko. "And what does 'Sukth thane' mean in Imperial?"  
Briar got up. "It means 'socked Crane'," he laughed, and went out.  
"'Socked Crane?' What does that mean?" bellowed Niko. But Briar was gone. "Well, what does it mean, girls?" he asked Tris, Daja, and Sandry, who were giggling into their napkins.  
"Nothing," they chorused.  
At that moment, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," called Lark. The door opened, revealing a dedicate from Air Temple. He stomped in.  
"Where's Briar Moss?" he growled.  
"He just went out. Why?"  
"Because he just injured one of the most important dedicates in Winding Circle!"  
"How?" inquired Niko. The girls giggled again. He glared at them.  
"He ran in, gave him a scroll, and punched him in the stomach, causing him to walk into a shelf, which collapsed on him!"  
"What was on the shelf?" inquired Lark.  
"Scrolls. The heavy kind," replied the dedicate.  
"Tell me," came a voice from the workshop. Rosethorn had been listening. "What is this dedicate's name?"  
"Dedicate Crane."  
Rosethorn disappeared into her workshop. Her mirth was too great to suppress.  
"Rosethorn, do you know anything about this?" Lark called in a menacing tone.  
"Maybe," came the reply.  
Just then there was another knock on the door. The dedicate opened the door to reveal Crane, with a bloody nose and breathing heavily. He looked extremely angry.  
"Rosethorn!" he bellowed, pushing away two novices who were trying to help him. "Rosethorn! Get out here!"  
Rosethorn appeared again at the door of her workshop. She took one look at the furious, mussed up Crane, and collapsed in laughter.  
"It isn't funny," yelled Crane. But too late. Sandry, who had been chuckling into her handkerchief, broke out in fits of laughter, along with Daja and Tris. Niko was not amused, but the corners of Lark's mouth were turned up. Frostpine looked like he was about to explode with suppressed mirth.  
"What happened, Crane? I didn't touch your face—only your stomach," Briar taunted. He had obviously circled around, and was now standing in the back door. He was laughing, too. Crane, seething, grabbed a pebble and threw it at Briar, but he was so angry he couldn't even aim.  
"What's this," inquired a soft commanding voice from the front door. "What is the cause for this violence within our temple?" Everyone stopped laughing as Honored Dedicate Moonstream entered the cottage, her eyes glinting in anger. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.  
  
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! I have been so busy, with schoolwork(evil teachers), writer's block, and The Trip. I went to the Everglades(class trip) this past week; we left at 3:30 AM Saturday morning, and arrived back at 12:30 AM the following Friday. Ah, it was nice while it lasted; warmth, T-shirts, shorts, sandals...all to be dashed into the ground when we arrived back at Hartford Airport—snow. Evil snow. Well, enough of my ramblings, on with the fanfic!  
  
By the way, you'll probably be getting an Everglades/Tortall cross-over fanfic very soon.  
  
Two weeks after the previous chapter.  
  
Briar was tired of court cases. Moonstream had held six; enough to get to the bottom of the whole Crane/Rosethorn case. It hadn't really worked—they had had to do a fair amount of fibbing, but it was for their lives, so they didn't really care. But the sentence was simple enough. Crane couldn't leave the Air temple area, Rosethorn couldn't leave the Earth temple area, and Briar couldn't leave the Discipline unless he was going to the kitchens. Dedicate Gorse threw in this odd bit—he knew that Briar loved the kitchens, and pointed out that Briar had been sent by Rosethorn, not by his own free will. So Moonstream and the jury had allowed him that freedom. One flaw in their Separation Rosethorn/Crane Operation: No one ever told them they couldn't leave by magic.  
And so a giant vine had been terrorizing the greenhouse the past few days. No one had caught Rosethorn actually in the act of sending the vine, but suspicions had been aroused. Briar and Lark had joined his teacher one night when the latter had come to bring her to dinner. She had ignored the first few calls, and when Lark had finally burst through the door, she was deep in meditation.  
Lark had followed her train of thought, and found herself twining through a thick vine. She had gone back to bring Briar, who knew more about plants that she did. And so they had found Rosethorn, getting sadistic pleasure out of sweeping dedicates and novices off their feet. They had joined her every night since then.  
The annoying boy and his sister hadn't left. Briar didn't like them at all, and when the girl had touched his shakkan a second time, he had put a charm on it, one that would give anyone who touched it a small shock. She'd gotten one, much to his delight, but her big brother had the nerve to punch the former street rat in the face. He had a black eye, but Lark for once had been on his side, giving the posh boy latrine duty for a week. But anyhow...  
  
A/N Yup, that's as for as I got. Now for my beloved reviewers!  
  
First I have to say a HHHHUUUUGGGEEEEE thank you to Tris the weather witch. She was my first and third reviewer, and she's just too good to be true. Being my first fanfic, I've needed support, and I got it!  
  
Athena Diagon Cat: read the darn book. And stop sending me so many e-mails. Sarah the Insane. By the way, you made it seem like my name was Sarah. (you know, Sarah). People, my name is Rosie.  
  
Solsanches: I've made it 1.5 spacing. And no, sad but true, I don't have a plot yet. But I'm having so much fun writing it. I just write whatever random thing pops into my head. I'm glad you think it's funny.  
  
Mountain Lass: What a great idea! I actually have been thinking on it; I just had limited time on this chapter. Maybe next chappie.  
  
Tris the weather witch: Hey, I like that—roflmbo. 


End file.
